


Dream Date

by halfjoker



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, knife shoes appreciation society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 21:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20216530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfjoker/pseuds/halfjoker
Summary: Nathan thinks about Yuzu before falling asleep. His dream is about the best date he can think of... or is it?





	Dream Date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [capra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/capra/gifts).

> As it's her birthday, I wrote this little fic just for her. Happy birthday, wifey!
> 
> Big thanks to my betas and conspirators, Asma the Panda and [cake_and_kuyashii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cake_and_kuyashii).

Nathan rolled over to his side. He couldn’t sleep. There was a cloud of thoughts that wouldn’t leave his mind. 

It had been a while. The memory was a little fuzzy, but it still made him smile. Yuzu had taken him on a proper date. They couldn’t have the usual business, like skipping down the street holding hands, but when they were both in Japan after Worlds, Yuzu managed to sneak both of them into a corner of a tiny café in Sendai. They secretly held hands under the table and Yuzu leaned in to whisper translations of the items on the menu right in his ear. After they were done with their secret little date, Yuzu walked him back to his hotel, where they enjoyed each other’s company in all the ways they couldn’t earlier. Nathan had felt like the luckiest man in the entire world. The silly disguise had been _so worth it._

Yuzuru overwhelmed him every time they stood face to face. He almost felt honored to be in his presence. He was just like that, his presence massive and powerful, yet he carried it so lightly with so much grace. Always so composed and humble in the face of the ever-present media, always knew what to say, part-philosopher, part-poet. Nathan wished he could learn how he does it. He knew he was nowhere near Yuzuru’s mental strength. _Maybe that confidence was why Yuzu was the one to confess his feelings first. Good times,_ he pondered. As he finally drifted off, the only image on his mind was his boyfriend’s face all flushed right after he had spilled everything to Nathan, smiling bashfully.

* * *

They were in California and Nathan was eagerly dragging Yuzuru to the beach by his hand. It was the middle of summer, so hot that even the thought of going outside had made them sweat, but they did it anyway, because Nathan had been aching to show his boyfriend around the neighbourhood he’d called home for so long. In a plain t-shirt and even plainer swimming shorts Yuzu looked surprisingly ordinary. With his superstar status left behind, he was just Yuzu, Nathan’s gorgeous boyfriend visiting for a couple of days. They were going straight to the ocean through a street completely devoid of people. It was like the city decided to let them have this moment just for themselves.

The view of the beach and the coast was just perfect. The silhouettes of the palm trees stood out against the spotless sky. The ocean blue of California was darker than Yuzuru expected, but still very bright. And they had all of this to enjoy, the two of them and no one else.

They slathered each other in sunscreen before Nathan started itching to just get into the water. 

“Nathan?” 

“Yeah?”

“You... you know I can’t really swim, right?” 

“Oh... right.” 

Nathan had definitely forgotten about that and now felt pretty stupid for suggesting they go swim in the ocean. He didn’t know what to say. Before he could think of anything, Yuzuru looked back at him, smiling softly. 

“But... I’d give the water a try, if you keep me safe.” 

“I’ll hold your hand, okay?” 

“Okay,” Yuzuru agreed and let Nathan pull him up to run hand in hand towards the waves. They were not even remotely intimidating, but they were just big enough to gently rock them as they walked deeper. When the water reached their chests, Nathan felt the grip on his hand tighten. 

“Yuzu? What’s wrong?” 

“I’m scared. Too deep.” 

“Oh, wanna go back out?” 

Yuzuru had to think about his answer for a bit before shaking his head. 

“Not yet. Water is cold and nice.” 

“Aight then.” 

Nathan let go of Yuzuru’s hand only to wrap his arm low around his hips and pull him closer. Yuzuru gasped softly, but returned the favour, his hand settling on Nathan’s waist. 

“Is this okay?” Nathan asked as he rubbed little circles into Yuzuru’s hip with his thumb. Yuzuru smiled and nodded. 

“Hey Yuzu, do you think I can carry you on my back?” Nathan asked, presenting a challenge, mainly to himself. 

“What?” 

Nathan repeated the question a little slower with careful pronunciation. “Do you think I can carry you on my back?” 

“Yeah, you’re strong, why?” 

“Hop on to find out.” He looked at him with a growing smirk on his face.

“Please don’t drop me.” 

“I won’t, don’t worry, Just put your arms here,” Nathan turned around and guided Yuzuru’s arms to loosely drape over his shoulders and hold on, “and your leg here,” he reached behind to gently hoist Yuzuru’s right leg up. 

“Now all you have to do is jump. I’ll count to three, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

“One, two, three!“ 

And just like that, Yuzuru was safely on Nathan’s back. No fall, no botched take-off or accidental kick. 

“Okay, now tell me why,” Yuzuru demanded. 

Nathan laughed, “wow, someone’s eager. Um, I just thought if you were a little higher maybe the water wouldn’t be that scary for you and, uh, I probably can’t carry you in my arms and to get you on my shoulders you’d have to go underwater and I didn’t think you’d do that, umm yeah...” 

Yuzuru perched his chin on Nathan’s head, sinking into the unruly curls. “Thank you,” he said softly. Nathan had been right, he was calmer. The position actually raised him only a little bit, but the fact that his head was on top on Nathan’s, when before they were almost at the same height, helped significantly. His head lightly swayed from side to side as Nathan walked forward. 

The chin digging into Nathan’s skull lifted off. Then Yuzuru hunched over in his grip. Then he felt Yuzuru’s cheek press against the side of his head. And _then_ he felt a kiss to the temple, and a whispered “love you.” 

Nathan’s knees buckled and had a lot of trouble with keeping himself upright so he wouldn’t drop Yuzu into the water. Meanwhile, Yuzuru nuzzled his hair for a moment before straightening back up and resuming smiling peacefully, enjoying the view. 

A little while later, after Nathan recovered from the unexpected surge of affection, he heard a tentative request. “Nei-chan? Can you carry me back?” 

“What, had enough of water for now?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Cool.” 

Nathan carried him all the way to their towels, and promised to only take a quick soak and get back. He ran until he was deep enough to jump headfirst and disappear completely underwater. He’d always loved swimming. The vast blue plain of the ocean gave him a sense of freedom. He stuck his head out of the water to catch his breath. Yuzuru waved at him, smiling. Nathan saw an opportunity to show off what he could do in the water. 

“Hey Yuzu, wanna see a trick?” he yelled out. 

“Sure!” 

He planned to float on his back. He looked behind his back to check the waves, but he was hit by one just slightly bigger than the others right in the face. Perfect timing. When he was done sputtering and rubbing the salt out of his eyes, he looked back to the beach. Yuzu would definitely be laughing at him for that. 

Except he wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t frowning either. The beach towel his boyfriend had been sitting on just moments ago was empty. There was no one else at the beach. Nathan looked around himself in the water, thinking it was a prank and Yuzuru would emerge any moment now to scare him. Nothing. He ran out of the ocean. Looked around the beach. Yuzu was nowhere to be found. 

“Yuzu! Yuzu, come out, wherever you are, it’s not funny!” 

Nathan was desperate. How could he disappear so quickly? Wait, they brought their phones with them. Yuzu’s wasn’t there. He could call him, right? With shaky hands he unlocked the phone and searched for his contact. It was gone. Their conversation on Line was gone too. But how? How was that possible? 

He gathered all their things and ran home as fast as he could, thinking maybe he would be there. He didn’t even have to go inside to meet his mom in the garden. 

“Mom, mom, is Yuzu here?” 

“Who?” 

“Yuzu! My boyfriend!” 

His mother was thoroughly confused. “You have a boyfriend?” 

Nathan felt very close to crying. “Of course I do, you've met him, let me show you...” he trailed off as he frantically scrolled through his phone to find a picture of them together. He pulled up the picture they took in Saitama after the short program. It looked different. There was no Yuzuru in it and it just seemed like a badly centered selfie. 

So he tried another photo. And another. And another. All with the same result – Yuzuru wasn’t in any of them. 

He couldn’t stop himself from crying as he muttered softly, “what the fuck, what the fuck, I just want my boyfriend back, what the hell is happening...” 

* * *

Nathan woke up in cold sweat and had to take a moment to look around himself. He was in his own room, back at home. In his own bed. Was this real? Had the disappearance act been just a dream? It had to be. It just had to be. 

He checked his phone. He had a new text on Line. It was from Yuzuru. He almost heard the chorus of his (unknowing) rinkmates’ voices sarcastically exclaiming, “ooh, it's Yuzu! Is he your _boyfriend_ that you have to talk with him all the time?” His boyfriend indeed, thank you very much. 

He opened the message. _“Hey champion, want to be first to see my new costumes? (´・ω・｀)”_ it read. Nathan’s mouth stretched into a wide smile and with a relieved sigh he pressed the phone against his chest. Yeah, having a boyfriend was awesome. But having a boyfriend that was as awesome as Yuzuru Hanyu was even better.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want to talk to me, [I have a CC!](https://curiouscat.me/jokerfics)


End file.
